Ox Content in Rural Heritage

[Oxbow Farm]

Any one else notice a great reduction in oxen content in Rural Heritage magazine since the change in ownership?

Haven’t seen anything from Drew Conroy in a long time. Not much about the various goings-on in New England. Pretty much just an article by Philip Henderson every issue. Nothing against Mr. Henderson, but he seems to write a variation of the same article each time, even if it is a decent article. I’d love to see some practical info like there used to be; logging with oxen, training oxen, housing oxen, working cows, bovine behavior, bovine foot care, etc. There used to be this stuff. Not as much as the horse stuff but enough to make me keep subscribing, (that and Sam Moore’s articles which are universally applicable). I know there are more draft horse folks than ox folks, but there are more ox folks than one guy in California.

[Tim Harrigan]

I have discussed this briefly with Joe and he is actively seeking more articles on oxen. There are no experts out there other than the ox community so it is up to them (us) to step up. RH is sort of like this web site. It is an important source of information and education but it requires practitioners to contribute to the discussion. Teamsters with all levels of experience can contribute and it is not just in offering solutions to problems. It is just as important to articulate significant and common problems. That is where the interaction starts.

[bivol]

hi!

Tim, you’re right, we have here enough experienced teamsters who could contribute, but we’d need a guideline, and i guess making articles based on them asking and we giving our opinions (covering a certain subject, like riding, for ex.) would help diversify.

if they’d ask, i guess we’d help them, but is asking really necessary?
from the founding of this forum we have covered lots of ox-related topics, and in lots of them there are real gems in form of answers, ideas, knowledge, guidelines, and experiences…
i tried to keep track by writing some of ox-man-ship-related forum stuff, and came to the conclusion we are really stacked with useful info.

if they’d ask something we here haven’t discussed here, i think we’d do our best to try to help, but since there are lots of useful subjects to pick from here, i’d advise that writers of RH at least read some of older threads in search for knowledge and ideas.

that’s my guess how we can help…. aside from answering questions.

also, i’m sorry to take a wild guess, but subjects concerning oxen in RH are, i presume, related to local new-england ox driving traditions. diversifying the subjects by adding ideas and experiences from other countries (aside Canada) could help diversify, esp. if the articles are “alike”.

i’ve never red rural heritage (i’d love to though), so, if it isnt already there, maybe a small “international” section, in which working animals – breeds, working conditions, management, technology, int. history, and so on- around the world could be covered.
say, caravans on silk road, mining mules of china, oxen in chile, elephants, and so on…

[Scott G]

If you bovine power folks start submitting decent manuscripts with photos, chances are that Joe would publish them. “Build it and they will come.”

No contributions = No content

[bivol]

@Scott G 19891 wrote:

If you bovine power folks start submitting decent manuscripts with photos, chances are that Joe would publish them. “Build it and they will come.”

No contributions = No content

that would be like asking regular citizens to submit manuscripts about stories they’re involved in, and “if they’re good, the editor will publish them”.

LOL where’s the journalism here?

as i said, there’s ample information here, more concentrated here than anywhere else online, so anyone interested can google it out (and consequently not buy RH to read it there).
and since this all knowledge is here, online, in plain view of anyone interested enough, i guess it’s up to the journalists to make a pick at a story, and make it, because otherwise, interested people will read it here, and “the train already left”.

so, if kind people from RH want to make a story based on the knowledge here, it’s up to those same RH guys to ask, find, write and submit stories they think the audience will like.

references and questions will ofcourse be answered, if we can help, but it’s up to the journalists to be… well, journalists.

so, he asks, we answer, that’s how it could work for a portion of a text, but “we concept it out”, “we write it”, “we submit it”, and Joe “says OK”, umm, that’s a bit stretched, isn’t it?

we are just a bunch of online practitioners and enthusiasts, but we’re not journalists.

and there’s another saying:”i offer a finger and now they want an arm”.

[Tim Harrigan]

Bivol: The articles in RH are not typical articles written by a journalist. They are written by draft animal practicianers and RH pays them for the finished article. So anyone of us could write and submit an aritcle and if Joe thinks it is appropriate and of suitable quality he would likely buy it for publication. So you would be a writer, not exactly a journalist.

[bivol]

oh, i see then. didn’t know that… well, it is logical, “from community to community”.
guess Scott’s right and i ain’t…. true enough.

but here’s the catch: i THINK (99% sure) i know how, for ex. some stuff works (like nose rings), but thinking ain’t going to do good if i didn’t already do it myself. which i didn’t.

now i can write about ideas and suggestions in a forum, but to write something from a mostly theoretical standpoint, and present it to the whole ox community in US and Canada (nay, the entire draft animal community), that would be bit overbearing of me, now wouldn’t it?
that’d be like putting a fistful of stuff i think is salt in an ocean and expect to have done good work.

esp. since there are here all around people who know a lot more than me…

[mother katherine]

On the other hand, Bivol, you have knowledge of your own people’s ways and breeds that we/I love to learn about: things like the Podolian cattle and Busa cattle. Then there’s that beautiful article on the ox teamsters you shared in the last year or so. Then there’s that story of the old guy who slaughtered his ox.
There might be some of these vanishing people you could interview. I know, when is there time to interview, write up and submit?
But, that would be something we all could do. RH might even make a category for these reminiscences of/about the past generation(s) of teamsters.
Updates on a pull or a logging/driving class might make it in, as well.
Here in NY, such are nearly nonexistent; but, I’ll try to heed my own advice.
oxnun

[Tim Harrigan]

Yes, I agree. Bivol, you have written many things that I think would be great contributions to RH.

[bivol]

thanks Tim! i try to write stuff that’l be interesting.

oxnun, i wanted to do an interview with such people, but the problem is you hardly find a teamster willing to talk about oxen. basically they all think i’m pulling their leg.

when you ask them, they are first surprised you ask, and then they give you short, nonchalant answers what was done but they can’t describe ways and methods, i think they used them but can’t describe them, it’s like they used them like an instinct. as for busha and podolian, i gathered it all from books, if i find some more, i’ll write it here.

but to write an article for RH i’d need more than a few patched-up sentences by reluctant old people…

options:
1. interview
i tried calling the president of Boskarin breeders just now, and i’ll try again tomorrow. maybe he can fix me an interview with some old-timers, that’s my best shot.
the guys from Istria are the most pleasant people i’ve met so far, even if they talk an ancient local dialect i can hardly understand, i’ll tape it and later translate it. i just hope he’ll find someone.

because, when you come to them with a sentence:”hi, i’d like to make an interview with you for an American ox-interested magazine,…”, it is likely they’ll think i’m pulling their leg, so i need to contact the president first.

2. as for those texts i translated, that was all, i can’t use them due to copyright, AND it wouldn’t be fair.

3. own text
this idea i like the most. i thought of writing a text about nasal control, leaning on conclusions and experiences from the thread.

i think it’s both an interesting and a useful issue, because it has lots of negative publicity, as well as people using these methods of control here often do hurt the animals, not because they want, but because they don’t know do-s and don’t-s of nasal control.

ofcourse help and contributions from others will be mentioned.

i have to be cautious and skeptic of my knowledge, esp, when presenting something to lots of other people.
well, i was cautious, but as ma gave me good advice:”you don’t have to walk on Mars to write about it”.

and if you all here think it’s ok, then i’ll give it a shot!

[CharlyBonifaz]

i think they used them but can’t describe them, it’s like they used them like an instinct.

Pretty much have an idea that is exactly why we can find so little written information on working with cattle from the oldtimers; plus being busy in the fields or woods leaves you with little time for pen and ink

tried calling the president of Boskarin breeders/ maybe he can fix me an interview with some old-timers

bivol, I’d love to read some of that in here…….
can’t you agitate them by asking for the bonusses of working with Boskarin cattle?

texts i translated, that was all, i can’t use them due to copyright

any chance of contacting the original writers?

shoot it 😉

[Oxbow Farm]

Bivol,

Maybe we can get you a copy of Rural Heritage to show them? If they actually see a copy of a magazine with oxen in it they may be more likely to think its real. Just a thought.

This most recent issue does have the pics from the MODA gathering so there are several pics of different teams.

Tim

[bivol]

hi!

i just contacted the president of boskarin society, and i found out the following:
i’d have to go and arrange the interviews myself.
second, they’d probably expect to be payed for it, he said, there’s always someone coming around, asking questions taking pictures and some making a profit out of it, and the breeders have nothing out of it.

also, he said, St. Jacob’s fest is tomorrow, so he said i should come mingle with the crowd some hours before the start and ask every teamster or old-timer a few questions. he said, an hour o

the only problem is, i don’t exactly know what to ask;

since they can’t explain how they train the oxen, i thought i’d concentrate on:
1. history,
2. meaning of oxen back then for very survival,
3. vs. tractors,
4. ww2
5.

but i don’t know if there’s be anything like enough for RH; i’d still prefer a normal article. but we’ll see!

if some of you have some questions, feel free to tell me what i should ask!

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Forgive a penniless peasant for being so direct but – do you get paid for this? If so I can think of a few things to cover in the UK, but if not I really should be devoting my time to things that are going to earn me things, or the bank manager will be even more annoyed with me 😀

[bivol]

Ixy, i don’t know. i think i’m not getting payed…

oh, yeah, AN UPDATE:

SEEMS I WON’T BE HEADING FOR ISTRIA AFTER ALL, THE CAR HAS SOME PROBLEMS… see it wants gasoline, and i won’t give it to him…

so the QUESTION SUGGESTIONS are not neccessary…

but i think i’ll devote myself to writing about nose rings, that’ll be useful…

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